Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Project Context

Software’s have manifested its impact and importance in today’s dynamic changing world.
Information Technology (IT) has grown and evolved over the last 50 years and was an integral
part of planning of business or other initiatives (Shakiri, 2015). In fact, IT has been an
indispensable element in the administration of dynamic governmental operations, which
include document management that plays a decisive role in modern e-government applications
(Kunis et al., 2007).
Authorities have to face the challenge of increasing the efficiency and quality while
decreasing the duration of the government processes which needs an application of a flexible,
adaptable document management system (Kunis et al., 2007). In response to this and due to
the vast anticipation and recognition of the digital age, the Philippine government made
possible the enactment of the Republic Act 8792 otherwise known as the “Electronic
Commerce Act” on 14 June 2020 which served as the legal basis for the creation of electronic
platforms and engaging of government agencies and the general public to electronic
transactions.
However, despite the passage of the said law, several government agencies in the
Philippine bureaucracy still use manual routing and managing of documents which are time-
consuming, tedious and vulnerable. One of these government agencies is the Department of
Social Welfare and Development Field Office 2 (DSWD FO2). Currently, the DSWD FO2
manually manages the flow of documents through the utilization of document tracking slips.
Dilemmas such as paper loss, limited storage area, difficulty in document retrieval, monitoring
and archiving of records are experienced by the said agency in the course of manual document
management utilization.
Taking into account the aforesaid predicaments arising from the use of manual document
management, the researcher proposes the development of an Electronic Document
Management System (EDMS), which will be essential in eliminating the disadvantages of
labor-intensive process of documents management.